ATLANTA (November 21, 2019)—Trella Health, a source for current and complete post-acute outcomes data and performance analytics, published its most recent Industry Trend Report and released a new quarterly data set. Trella customers now have access to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) claims data through the second quarter of 2019.
According to Trella’s CEO, Ian Juliano, “Trella strives to not only provide the most recent and complete data in the market, but also to offer analysis and insights into the post-acute care market. Our latest trend report is an example of that.”
The Industry Trend Report breaks down the most recent national and state-level trends in the hospice, home health and skilled nursing markets. It also offers insights into Medicare beneficiaries and post-acute discharge instructions. Key takeaways include:
- From Q1 2018 to Q1 2019, the total number of Medicare beneficiaries grew by 1.4 million, an increase of 2.5%. Medicare fee for service (FFS) beneficiaries declined by .4%, while Medicare Advantage beneficiaries increased by 7.7% to 22.1 million.
- Home health surpassed skilled nursing as the most likely post-acute referral destination. 23.3% of inpatient discharges were coded for home health compared to 21.1% referred to SNF. This is the first reporting period where home health was instructed at a higher rate than SNF.
- Hospice average length of stay (ALOS) increased from 74.5 to 77.9 days from Q1 2018 to Q1 2019. The additional 3.4 days represents a 5% longer stay and is the highest ALOS we’ve seen since reporting on the metric.
Of note, Trella introduced a new section on skilled nursing after launching a solution for skilled nursing facilities (SNF) in Spring 2019. In addition, Trella dedicated a portion of the report to PDGM to assist home health organizations in preparing for the rule to take effect in January 2020. Trella is devoted to continually investigating and sharing trends around admissions, utilization, and other metrics to serve as resource to the post-acute community.
Find Trella’s latest Industry Trend Report here.
